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A CALL TO 
PATRIOTIC 
SERVICE 

nnofifews, Mrs, Einme Km [Th\V>ip- 



A CALL TO PATRIOTIC SERVICE 



To the Teachers of the United States : 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

I WASHINGTON 



- 






.** 



We find ourselves today in war, a war encircling the greater part 
of civilized mankind. Whatever may be our view of the processes which 
have brought the world to this point, we have now to face the fact 
that the action of the nations is focussed on this gigantic conflict and 
that our own country is now involved in it. 

We recognize that our Government has been loath to join the strug- 
gle and has entered into it only after long and searching deliberation. 
The will of the majority of Congress has declared war and it is the 
duty of all Americans to accept this mandate. The voice of law 
commands loyal and earnest service, and American patriotism will 
respond to the call. Service is the privilege of each and every citizen, 
and the measure of service is always the nation's need. 

We enter upon this war, as stated by President Wilson, with "a 
profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the 
step .... and of the grave responsibilities which it involves." We 
hope with him that we have made "clear to all the world what our 
motives and objects are," and we trust that during the war we shall 
remain faithful to the high traditions of America. To keep our minds 
and our hearts clear, let us refer often, as often as may be necessary, 
to the words of the President, who has struck the key-note of a new 
spirit, even in the tragedy of war. "Just because we fight without 
rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but 
what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel con- 
fident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and our- 
selves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair 
play we profess to be fighting for." 

President Wilson challenges American patriotism in his plea "to 
conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness 
because we act without animus." We shall have occasion, again and 
again, during the "fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us" to prove that 
our hearts are right and our traditions true. There will be none of 
the old passions of war. Our friendships need not be disturbed, and 
as the President says, we shall have an opportunity to prove this "in 
our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women 
of German birth and native sympathy who live among us and share 
our life, . . . . who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the 



Government in the hour of test." Consistent with all this, there will 
be an interchange of good-will, regardless of race or nationality. A 
cult of hatred has no place in free America, for tolerance is the first 
%> principle of democracy. 

Let us scorn to hate. In the midst of the conflict, which is waged 
for international freedom, let us reassert our belief in law, the abso- 
lute prerequisite for a democratic world. While we fight, let us pre- 
pare for peace. President Wilson, in his great speech to the Senate 
on January 22, gave this note to the world. "The statesmen of the 
world," he said, "must plan for peace, and nations must adjust and 
accommodate their policy to it, as they have planned for war and made 
ready for pitiless contest and rivalry." During the last two and a half 
years, leaders of thought, wherever to be found, have pointed the way, 
and there exists today substantial agreement on many of the essentials 
necessary for the avoidance of war in the future. A judicial union of 
the nations and a permanent international conference have become 
familiar axioms in the plans for a durable peace. 

Our entry into the war gives a new significance to this epoch- 
making speech of the President, when he stunned the world with his 
frank statement of the way and upon what terms the war should be 
ended. The principles enunciated he calls American principles, Amer- 
ican policies, and yet he says, "They are the principles and policies of 
forward-looking men and women everywhere of every modern nation, 
of every enlightened community. They are the principles of man- 
kind and must prevail." 

With these high words before us, it becomes the patriotic duty of 
American citizens to study and to encourage the study of those plans 
put forward to achieve a definite concert of the Powers and a just war 
settlement. Let us keep this before our minds, for even though we 
achieve military success, we shall not be victorious unless our prepara- 
tions for peace, backed by the voice of the people, come into full 
fruition at the close of the war. 

What is the special service which teachers may render in this war? 
Anger, hate of other nations, should be kept from the school-room. 
The schools should maintain a civic and moral stability among the 
youth of the land. This is the opportunity to inspire anew a love 
for American institutions and American ideals. Civic service, appro- 
priate to youth, imbued with devotion to the nation's need, would 
constitute a material support to the country in this time of national 
crisis. The school children of the United States could, for example, 
through home and school gardens, make a substantial offering to the 
problem of food production during the war. This and other forms 
of youthful service, consciously entered upon for the nation's good, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



would develop a sane and logical patriotism among i ||j! 
a mighty bulwark for the welfare of any nation. 018 465 797 

We shall not be true to our young citizens, however, if we withhold 
from them the hope of a new world order. If we are sincere in our plans 
for peace, we shall impart to those who will determine the life of the 
future the knowledge of those processes which we, according to our 
judgment, deem wise and practical. Nay, more, we shall inspire the 
youth of today with a vision of a different world. Truly, the next great 
forward step of humanity must begin in the schools. 

Our efforts in this direction should not be interrupted. The ob- 
servance of the Eighteenth of May, Peace Day, or International Day, 
which has been the program of the schools of this country and of other 
countries for over a decade, is of peculiar importance this year when 
we, through the voice of our President, are professedly waging war 
for international freedom and justice. We should teach the young 
people the way to freedom and justice. It is most fitting that the 
anniversary of the opening of the First Hague Conference, the starting 
point and the center of international law and order, should be 
celebrated in the schools this year. The observance of Peace Day 
offers an opportunity to point out the value of arbitration, conciliation 
and judicial settlement. The exercises might well recite the successes 
of the Arbitration Court at The Hague, established by the First Hague 
Conference. It is timely to call attention to the fifteen cases of dis- 
putes settled effectively by this arbitration tribunal, which was indeed 
fully competent to have settled the initial dispute in the present world 
conflict. Our young people should know of the proposed World 
Court, accepted in principle at the Second Hague Conference, and 
which is, among all the factors entering into a permanent peace plan, 
the one universally accepted. A Peace Day exercise this year offers 
a great opportunity to take note of these solid foundations of law and 
order. 

On those who administer education in this critical time rests the 
responsibility of preserving and advancing those ideals for which all 
nations should strive and of establishing an unbroken unity of youthful 
civic service and devotion to the nation's welfare. May we in our 
hour of test still be able to maintain the American ideal of democracy 
and may the teachers of America continue to be the consecrated 
servants of the democratic ideal. God grant that on the pages of the 
world's history, the United States will stand out as a nation which 
remained true to its purpose in the service of humanity. 

Faithfully yours, 

Fannie Fern Andrews. 
Boston, Mass., April io, 1917. 



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018 465 797 1 



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